


Me After You

by sourpatchedkid



Series: Minimal Warm Project [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Commissioned fic, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Minimal Warm Project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:34:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27756988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sourpatchedkid/pseuds/sourpatchedkid
Summary: Out of all of Baekhyun's chance encounters, Chanyeol was his favorite.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol
Series: Minimal Warm Project [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030437
Kudos: 39





	Me After You

**Author's Note:**

> To the donor,
> 
> Thank you for your support and generosity. I hope you like it!

Baekhyun thinks of warm Sunday afternoons.

He remembers digging up a hole in his grandmother’s backyard nearly twenty summers ago to bury his and his cousins’ time capsules only to find a box filled with old five-peso coins. He moved as quickly as he could, kicking the box by the tree as he dug the hole deeper only for his cousin to unfortunately find him sweaty and dirty, clutching on the small box he kicked moments ago. He excitedly tells his cousin about his treasure but the latter only tells him that it was his dumb luck. He sticks his tongue out and grabs the box from his cousin. He ends up hiding it in the bottom drawer of his cabinet for safety but he loses it not more than a week later. He finds it in his brother’s room sometime later much to his dismay and the older Byun blames him for being predictable before fully taking credit for finding the box to his grandparents.

Years later, Baekhyun formed a habit of keeping old coins. Any coin produced in 2003 ad older, whether it’s from a coin on the pavement, or coins from his jeepney change. He would tell himself that he wasn’t predictable and that it wasn’t just ‘dumb’ luck but he was just (read: maybe) lucky in general. He hid his coin collection in his bag and never spoke to a soul about it.

Of all his chance encounters, Baekhyun’s favorite is Chanyeol. Chanyeol who gave color to his overall mundane life. Chanyeol who filled his quietness with a sound that not only filled his head and ears but his heart too. Chanyeol who showed him that his life had a purpose and that it isn’t just based purely on (dumb) luck. Time and again, Chanyeol would remind him that in Baekhyun’s journey of collecting his most valuable, Chanyeol found his. In what he would consider the biggest downfall of his life, it led him to Baekhyun.

On yet another warm Sunday afternoon, Baekhyun is waiting for his change by the counter in one of the quaint cafes his students taught him earlier in the week. Common Folk was the name of the café and it hid behind commercial condominiums and buildings that Baekhyun had to wonder how it was surviving in the first place. The café was quiet and clean when he comes in. Whether or not the people just finished cleaning for the day or he was the first customer in a while, he didn’t know. He was looking for a new place to grade his papers and he remembered Common Folk and how his students raved about the food, coffee, and the aesthetic of the place. They were right about everything except that he’s been standing by the counter for about 10 minutes now as the cashier struggled to look for change.

“I’d suggest, upo ka muna.” A voice from behind startles him. He looks up and sees a tall man in a hoodie. One hand in his pocket and the other was scrolling through his phone. Said tall man shoots him a smile before pulling the hoodie down. “Ikaw yata yung first customer namin in two days so they don’t have coins. My bad. Nag call a friend na sila. Maybe take a seat and ihahatid ko na lang. Password is commonfolk123.”

Before Baekhyun could say anything, the man in the hoodie moves behind the counter and onto the staff room. Baekhyun takes his advice and moves to one of the tables furthest from the door. He sets up his computer and takes out the papers he has to grade before pulling out his headphones and plugging them in. He remembered his coffee left on the counter so he jogs to get it before finally, settling himself in. It was finals week where he teaches and contrary to the majority of his coworkers who opted for multiple-choice tests, Baekhyun wanted them to write him an essay. He was beginning to regret that decision as to the pile of paper stares back at him. Oh well.

There’s a plastic of coins placed in front of him an hour later. The same boy in the hoodie a while ago was standing in front of him, hands behind his back in apology, and a sheepish smile on his face.

“150 pesos po.” He says. “In 25 cents.” He keeps his lips sealed, afraid that he might get yelled at by his only customer today.

Baekhyun picks up the plastic and opens it. The smell of old coins makes him shake his head. He runs a hand through the coins and sees that they’re all old. They were all that he was looking for. Hundreds of vintage twenty-five cents produced way before he was born was now resting happily in front of him. Oh, I am lucky, he thinks. He glances at the nervous man and smiles.

“This is perfect. Don’t worry about it. Thank you.” He assures him. The boy in the hoodie scurries away before Baekhyun’s smile disappears. For the rest of the afternoon, Baekhyun continues to check his essays in a good mood. Literally, nothing could ruin it for him. Not when a bag of old coins is happily in his bag.

There’s a cup of coffee and a plate of cookie placed in front of him a couple of minutes later. The same boy, now clad in a black t-shirt, wearing white gloves and a mask, is holding both of his hands in front of him in politeness.

“Pa-thank you po namin. For being kind.” He says, he pulls down his mask and smiles. “Enjoy.”

“Hey,” Baekhyun looks at the cookie and coffee, and then at him. “I don’t have to have a freebie for being a decent human being.”

He waves his hand off at Baekhyun and says, “Ikaw rin ‘yung first customer namin in a week. Last week, we had a group of students and then that was it.”

“Baka students ko.” Baekhyun chuckles. “They recommended me the place.”

The man beams even wider, “Your class has kept us going in the last week. So, consider it thanks.”

Unbeknownst to the man in the hoodie (now a shirt), the rest of the following week was filled with students coming in and out, filming skits, writing more essays, and hanging out. He didn’t have the heart to ask them if they were related to the teacher he met a week ago but he welcomed them all with open arms and gave them as many excess cookies as he could.

It’s yet another Sunday when Baekhyun arrives at Common Folk with his papers again. The man in the hoodie is manning the counter this time and he gives him a polite smile before heading to the same table farthest from the door. He heads back to the counter to get himself a latte and some fresh bagel. He looks and feels more tired than usual. He even kept ruffling his hair subconsciously that his hair began sticking in different directions.

“You okay?” The man in the hoodie asks, punching in his order before signaling to his staff at the back.

“Yeah,” Baehyun offers a polite smile. “I’m good.”

“You sure?”

Baekhyun nods. He gave everyone an extended dealing on their concept notes but he didn’t anticipate everyone to wait up until the last minute to submit. So, here he was now, sleepless and exhausted from all the thousands of words with hundredths of revisions due tomorrow.

“I was a teacher.” The man breaks him away from his daydream. He hands Baekhyun his change, this time in just a 20-peso bill, and adds, “Grade 12. English Lit.”

“Grade 12. English Lit din.” Baekhyun thanks him and then sighs. He feels a little relaxed at the thought that someone, in a way, can relate to his worries. “Baby thesis time.”

“Oof.” The man in the hoodie heads to the coffee bar and Baekhyun’s feet take him to that side of the counter too. “Sabog ba?”

Baekhyun nods his head profusely then rolls his eyes. “I’m torn between letting them do what they want and just revising everything.”

“The trick is,” A steam comes out of the espresso machine. The man in the hoodie leans on the counter as he waits for the coffee to drip. “To brainstorm. You want them to feel independent pero yung output isn’t your standard so brainstorm. That way, they’ll feel like an adult but you’re also getting what you want.”

“Brainstorming is more draining for me than for them. Kasi dinadaan ako sa kwento.”

The man in the hoodie chuckles. “Sounds like a you problem.”

“Your kids probably loved looking at you more than brainstorming.”

“True.”

“Wow.” Baekhyun scoffs at the sudden arrogance. “Normal people would deny and then give something more insightful.”

“Di naman natin pwedeng i-deny ‘yung pareho nating nakikita.”

And while man in a hoodie is indeed good-looking, Baekhyun would never say it to his face nor will he agree with his sentiment moments ago. So, he shakes his head and pretends to gag which sends them both into fits of laughter. He stays silent while the man in the hoodie perfects his latte and he meets him at the order section of the counter.

“Sana kaya niya kong buhayin.” He comments, taking the coffee. “Thank you…”

“Chanyeol.” The man in the hoodie smiles, his dimples showing. Ok, so gwapo nga.

“Baekhyun.”

Chanyeol nods, slipping both of his hands in his apron.

“Pag may kailangan ka, just let me know.”

Baekhyun nods, and then jokes, “Pano pag kailangan ko ng katulong magcheck?”

“Well, it’s a slow day.” Chanyeol takes out his apron and even when Baekyun kept insisting he was joking, Chanyeol pulled a chair across him and started to help him grade papers.

It’s after three weeks of “helping” Baekhyun grade his papers and three weeks of “Ay! Late na pala! Dinner?” that Chanyeol finds the courage to ask if he can bring Baekhyun home. It’s 10 PM, two hours past the closing time, all of his staff already clocked out, and it’s only him and Baekhyun who “missed out on the time” for the nth time. They’ve been in this situation multiple times, often just drowning in easy conversations and funny answers on test papers. Out of chivalry, he takes Baekhyun’s bag from the seat and wears it whilst the other was in the washroom, cleaning up. The test papers are in a different paper bag but there’s a significant weight to the bag that Chanyeol was beginning to wonder if the backaches Baekhyun was complaining about were from grading or the damn bag.

“They’re lucky coins,” Baekhyun explains to him about his collection and what his lucky coins were. He tells him about the small treasure box of old coins he found when he was younger and how he continued to collect them without his family knowing. He spread them in different places—in different bags, different drawers—because as much as collecting was Baekhyun’s hard work, he believes that these coins brought him luck too. If not for the bag of twenty-five cents, he doubts he would be brought home by the man in the hoodie.

Baekhyun concludes that all the good things happen to him on Sunday afternoons. It’s a busy day in Common Folk. It has been in the last two weeks. One of Baekhyun’s students, apparently, is an “influencer” and boosted the place. In the younglings' words, “I’m boosting the coffee and the cute owner.” To which Baekhyun cackled and told Chanyeol after. The sea of people who came to visit him was more than his old customers in a week. It came to a point where Baekhyun’s Table was occupied and he was just awkwardly standing there, refusing to sit anywhere else. Chanyeol was busy being a celebrity and trying to cater to him.

“Dun ka sa office ko.” He whispers, pulling him by the arm and nudging him to the staff room.

There’s a narrow, spiral ladder in the staff room that leads to an unfittingly large office. The floors and walls were made up of wood and there was little to no color except for the white cushions on his black couch and the white monitor on his wooden office table. For someone who has an amazing office, Chanyeol doesn’t really spend his time there. Or at least, not when Baekhyun is around. It’s unbelievably neat too.

He places himself on the floor by the center table and takes out his laptop and places his coffee further from him. He starts working in his new setting, completely enjoying the silence and the undivided air conditioning. There’s a new semester coming soon and a new set of students. His lesson plan is due for a revision two days from then but he finds himself asleep shortly after. Baekhyun finds a hand on his back when he wakes up a bit later. He turns around to see a sleeping Chanyeol on his chest on the couch. Slowly, he reaches for the hand and slowly puts it next to Chanyeol. The small movement stirs him awake. He cracks one eye open and then closes it again. A few seconds later, he flutters himself awake.

“Hi,” He starts. Chanyeol sits up. There are sleeping marks on his cheeks and he’s now sporting a bedhead. “Is your back okay?”

“Kaya pa.” Baekhyun answers, he reaches out for Chanyeol’s face but the latter responds by tapping the space next to him. Baekhyun gets up on the couch and reaches to flatten Chanyeol’s hair. “Tulog ka pa diyan. Tapos ka na ba sa baba?”

“Kaya na nila ‘yun.”

“But they come for you.”

Chanyeol yawns, “But you’re here.”

“Yuck.” Bakehyun stretches himself and then slouches on the couch. A sleepy Chanyeol watches him in awe. On this particular Sunday afternoon, Baekhyun decides to look back at Chanyeol whose piercing gaze might as well bear a hole on his forehead. He makes a face by scrunching his nose and sticking his tongue out. It’s what he does best—entertaining the life out of the café owner when he’s looking at him like he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him.

“What would have happened if we had coin-change in the café?” He suddenly asks. He shifts closer to Baekhyun and drops his head on top of his. But, before Baekhyun could even answer, Chanyeol sighs. “Ayoko na isipin ‘yun. Then, I wouldn’t have met you. You wouldn’t have bragged me to your students. Hindi magkaka-customers yung café—“

“Ay grabe—“

“And I wouldn’t have met you.” Chanyeol kisses the top of his head which makes Baekhyun freeze in his spot. “When I resigned as a teacher, my dad said I wasn’t even a lucky person to begin with so why the hell am I putting up a café with all my life-savings? I went ahead with it. Haven’t had luck happen until you.” He turns to Baekhyun. Their shoulders touching each other, their pinkies linked together. “Thank you, B.”

Baekhyun scrunches his nose as his reply. He feels Chanyeol’s breath against his face but he has no intentions of moving away. Chanyeol pouts brazenly.

“You’re going to kiss me, aren’t you?” He teases. Baekhyun shakes his head but there’s a playful smile on his lips that betrays him. “Go on.”

Baekhyun purses his lips together to tease him but he feels an arm snake around his waist pulling him closer to the other. Slowly, he sees Chanyeol’s face come in closer and he finds himself tilting his face upwards to meet his lips.

Of all Baekhyun’s chance encounters, this one—this guy kissing him—was his favourite.

It’s yet again another warm Sunday afternoon when Baekhyun realizes he’s in love.

**Author's Note:**

> Note: This is a paid work. All proceeds have been donated to the Kaya Natin! Movement and Sagip Kapamilya as of November 22, 2020. (https://tinyurl.com/ProofMWProj2020)
> 
> Feel free to comment or tweet/message me @__jonginnie (yes, two underscores).


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